Roll of Honor
Incident
Reserve Deputy Healy drowned while attempting to recover the body of another drowning victim from Lake Berryessa.
Deputy Healy and another member of the Napa County Sheriff's Department's dive team had located the sunken boat, attached a line to it, and surfaced to obtain new air tanks. Deputy Healy and another deputy then began to follow the line to the boat. At 96 feet, Deputy Healy met the second deputy and indicated everything was okay, but shortly thereafter, indicated he needed to surface.
As both deputies began to surface, Deputy Healy indicated he was out of air. The other deputy attempted to give Deputy Healy his regulator, but as Deputy Healy attempted to swim to it, he accidentally knocked off the mask of the other diver. The other diver could no longer see and was unable to get the regulator to Deputy Healy. The deputy surfaced and immediately reported that Deputy Healy was in trouble.
Another diver immediately suited up and entered the lake. He located Deputy Healy's body approximately 60 feet down. The deputies in the boat were able to pull Deputy Healy to the surface using his safety line and immediately started CPR. He was flown to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Deputy Healy was a United States Navy WWII veteran and had served with the Napa County Sheriff's Department for five years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife, brother, and sister.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-CA-AEF163EB- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Reserve Deputy Healy gave the Napa County Sheriff's Department 5 years.
Thank you for your service to the Napa community. Thank you for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Military Service
James Edward Healy served in the United States military before joining law enforcement. Full service record available on salute.nw.
Reserve Deputy James Edward Healy is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In CA, 719 of 1,837 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.1% of this state's fallen. That is 8.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. James Edward Healy's cause is highlighted.
How James Edward Healy Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. James Edward Healy is highlighted in May.